Savers

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Savers, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1954; 67 years ago (1954) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Headquarters	Bellevue, Washington, U.S.
Key people	Mark Walsh (CEO)
Products	Second-hand clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, electronics, toys, and housewares
Website	http://www.savers.com

Savers in Boston, Massachusetts

Savers, Inc. headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, U.S., is a privately held for-profit thrift store chain offering second hand shopping. An international company, Savers has more than 315 locations throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia, and receives its merchandise by paying money to non-profit organizations for donated clothing and household items, and through direct donation by individuals. Savers is known as Value Village in the Pacific Northwest, and most of Canada, and Village des Valeurs in Quebec. Some locations in the area surrounding the District of Columbia are under the name Unique.^[1]In Australia and other regions of the U.S., the stores share the corporation's name.

Berkshire Partners bought a 50% stake in the company in 2000.^[2] Freeman Spogli & Co. became the majority owner in 2006.^[3] Leonard Green & Partners and TPG Capital bought out Freeman's shares in 2012.^[4]

In March 2019, Savers reached a restructuring agreement to hand ownership of the company over to private equity firms Ares Management and Crescent Capital Group.^[5]

Business[]

Savers' business model involves partnership with local non-profits and purchasing and reselling donated items. The non-profits collect and deliver donated goods to Savers, which pays them for the items at a bulk rate regardless of whether they ever make it to the sales floor. Savers has more than 160 non-profit partners throughout the United States, Canada and Australia, which it pays more than $117 million annually.^{[citation needed]} As of 2012, the company had 315 stores worldwide and reached $1 billion in revenue. ^[6]

Items deemed resellable are displayed for purchase in stores. Savers also has a recycling program and attempts to recycle any reusable items that cannot be sold at the stores, as well as any items that do not sell over a period of time to make room for fresh merchandise. Savers has buyers for its recyclables throughout the world and attempts to keep as much donated product out of the waste stream as possible.^{[citation needed]}

Business operation issues and transparency[]

In the United States and Canada the business model for many nonprofits was that the organization would call homes for donations, and a truck would pick them up. By the early 2000s many organizations, like the Association of Community Living, partnered with Savers/Value Village because they believed it was too expensive to do the pickups and resell to used goods merchants. Many of the contracts these organizations signed with Savers/Value Village offer a very small return compared to the (perceived) large amounts of money Savers/Value Village retains. According to an article that appeared in the Alberta Report in 1996 "According to the Times, for every $1.00 that went to undersigned charities from some Ellison-owned thrift stores, $2.55 went to the Ellison associates".^{[citation needed]}

Controversy[]

In May 2015, the Minnesota Attorney General filed suit^[7] claiming that the corporation was misleading the public. The Attorney General pointed out, for example, that Savers pays only a very small percentage to the non-profit charities which partner with Savers (and for items other than clothing, nothing). Additionally, the Attorney General filed suit^[8] against charities that partnered with Savers, for failing to monitor Savers for compliance with their partnership contract.

In November 2019 King County Superior Court Judge ruled that the corporation had misled the public into believing the organization was a charity. This decision was primarily motivated by marketing which implied that purchases made by customers directly benefited charities when, in fact, the corporation retains all profits made from customer purchases. Penalties have not yet been determined in the case and the corporation may appeal the decision.^[9]

Safety concerns[]

In December 2018, a family in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada reported their six-year-old son found a hypodermic needle and two partially-used tubes of glue in a used Mouse Trap board game they had bought from a Value Village in Coquitlam, British Columbia. ^[10][11]

In October 2019, Chris Turner reported getting a needlestick injury when he tried on a boot at a Value Village (in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada) and was told he would need blood tests including for HIV and hepatitis.^[12]

References[]

External links[]

• Savers US Website
• Savers Australia Website
• Value Village's Website
• Village des Valeurs's Website